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May 16, 2011
Why Jim Sillars is dead wrong about "independence-lite" - Thoughtland
The next trouble-zone is Sillars’ check-list of “cross-Border functions”. This is one area which requires detailed and vigorous debate among independence supporters, and certainly not some imposed fiat from the high command of the SNP. I guess I’m revealing myself as a “fundi” - and maybe a Green fundi - in this debate, as I find myself unwilling to think that there are any of these functions that wouldn’t benefit from a maximum degree of Scottish control.
On what would seem like a minor matter of the DVLA: of course we can organise European-continent-style, cross-border ease of mobility and registration - we have the systems to make that easy and possible. But in a low-carbon era when the regulation of personal transport will become a big issue - and where incentives to cleaner kinds of vehicles might need to be applied - again, do we leave this entirely to Westminster which is, cross-party, environmentally static, if not regressive? Why should we surrender our governmental imagination here?
May 16, 2011
Hearts and mines: Council Tax freeze and local democracy
Firstly look at the figures. It’s estimated that the current saving for a Band D householder is around £1.20 per week. Those with bigger houses save more and those with smaller houses or on housing benefits a lot less. That’s not the way I like to see tax changes to apply.
Compare this to other changes to household budgets. A teacher or other public service employee on around £30,000 a year and with inflation running at around 5% will lose over £40 a week following a 2-year pay freeze. Yet I wonder how many voted SNP for £1.20 a week saving?
May 16, 2011
What does the election result mean for Scotland’s third sector? | Caledonian Mercury - Business and Technology
After the majority government that was supposed to be an electoral impossibility, Scots are starting to get their head round what the new SNP administration means for them. In the third sector – Scotland’s charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises – we are watching intently as the newly elected MSPs take their seats.
May 15, 2011
Guest blog: The social cost of big biomass - Greener Leith News - Greener Leith | Community Involvement | Sustainable Development | Better Public Spaces | Leith, Edinburgh
I saw that Greener Leith is dealing with the proposed biomass plant in Leith. Another is proposed for Grangemouth near where I live. I am glad that the sanity of growing trees abroad for import to run a power station is being questioned. It’s a lunacy which just compounds the problems caused by our over consumption, the pillaging of third world resources and the removal of land from habitat protection and agriculture for a spurious use. It’s certainly not ‘green’ because trees are technically a renewable resource.
May 13, 2011
Oil’d (by Chris Harmon)
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